Subscribe to this blog

talkingchristianity168office@gmail.com

The Myths In Evangelism (Part One)

The call to carry out the Great
Commission feels heavy when we picture ourselves alone, laboring away to share
good news. Anything in the Christian life feels heavy if I’m envisioning a
rough road and myself walking along it by myself.

Stories from fellow travelers help
light up the landscape. Stories, for example, of those who are reaching from
Christ’s body outward—those who invite neighbors to a church Bible study group
and who see those neighbors and their families gradually transformed by the
gospel; those who host international students in their home, regularly bring
them to church, and see some of them believe in Jesus; women whose brothers and
sisters in Christ’s body have prayed for years with them for their husbands to
come to faith. Interwoven through these stories are the hospitality and prayers
of God’s people—specific prayers for the salvation of those they name together
in God’s presence.

We
Are Part of a Body

As a redeemed people, we bear
witness to the good news that Jesus died on the cross, bore our sin, and rose
from the grave, conquering death. Believing this good news makes us part of a
body that lives and moves together toward seeing Jesus. We don’t do this
evangelism thing alone.

Better to picture a road full of
people walking together, sort of like we picture the Israelites walking up to
the Jerusalem temple at feast time—whole groups and families, talking and
singing and taking in others along the way. We’re God’s people.
This is all God’s work. By his Spirit, God calls people to himself
and gives them new life through faith in Christ. Those who have believed get to
participate. He uses us. He uses us.

Myth
#2: We don't have to speak the gospel--we just live it. Or at least wait and
earn the right to speak.

Should our lives touch people and
transform culture first, before we speak? Do we need to speak?
How do we manage this tension between verbal and nonverbal witness?

As believers, we can run to God’s
Word to address and even embrace this tension. And the Word will tell us that
God’s good news is a message to be proclaimed and believed: “Faith comes from
hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17).
We withhold the ultimate help if we withhold “the sacred writings, which are
able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 3:15).

But the Word also tells us that the
gospel transforms lives, empowering doers and not just hearers—doers who, for
example, care for orphans and widows in need (James 1:22,
27). If we have received the ultimate help, then we’ll offer it not just
through words but also through transformed and transforming lives.

Talk
about Jesus While Building Relationships

We should perhaps take with more
grains of salt the view that lengthy relationship-building is required before
we earn the right to speak gospel truth. It does take time to minister in mercy
and to build relationships. But I’d rather do that building with someone who is
hearing me talk about Jesus in the process—with sensitivity and restraint, yes,
but with confidence that the gospel is the best, most urgent news in the
universe. If we wait a long time to speak, it usually becomes harder, more
awkward, and more like there’s an elephant in the room.

Don't
Underestimate Words

I’m reminded of a woman who moved
across the globe to a country not generally friendly to Christianity. In her
(successful) interview for a job at a local business, she told her potential
employers about her Christian faith—because she figured that to be initially
clear about her commitments would pave the way for more fruitful interactions
on the subject. And indeed it has. Another friend across town has been able to
show and explain the gospel through years of work in church-based ESL
classes—and some of those students are now brothers and sisters in the Lord.

In her early years of marriage, a
friend of mine didn’t know the Lord but was restless and searching. A man who
showed up to fix a household appliance told her that Jesus loved her. That’s
all he said. But she couldn’t get the words out of her mind. She got a Bible
and read it, found a nearby church where in God’s providence the Bible was
taught, and, in the end, both she and her husband came to faith in Christ.

I know: it doesn’t always or even
usually happen that way. It did in that case, though. May we not underestimate
the words that can be spoken during a plane or taxi ride, with a sales person
or table server, or in the process of building a relationship.

Myth
#3: Evangelism requires special training.

Don’t get me wrong: training in
evangelism is extremely valuable. We can sharpen our articulation of the
gospel, better grasp the Bible’s call to share it, learn more effective ways to
listen and ask questions of people, and so forth.

But we don’t need to wait until
we’re some sort of trained experts. The Samaritan woman who met Jesus at the
well called the people of her town to come and see the man she had just met (John 4:29).
She was so overjoyed by having met Jesus and found the promised Messiah that
her joy naturally overflowed.

Participation
in Church Body Life Can Be the Best Training

If we’ve just seen a great movie,
that movie will often find its way into our conversation . . . usually with a
lot of enthusiasm. It’s got to be true that if we’re regularly encountering the
God of the universe speaking to us through his Word, then his Word will
probably overflow into our conversations. Wouldn’t it be strange if it
didn’t?

“Your daughter is living a life that
shocks you, and you just don’t know how to relate to her? You know, I was just
reading this amazing story about how Jesus related to a woman he met . . . ”

Maybe the best ongoing training is
wholehearted participation in church body life, Bible study, prayer,
service—those basic elements of the Christian life that help us grow to
maturity.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts

It is common thing in our society to find people in every stratum keenly asking this question of God’s whereabouts. The statement has been, “if there is God, where is He?” To them, inasmuch as God is not visible to unclad eyes, there is no point saying that He exists. This factor of invisibility has become a hard nut for many to crack. For this reason many who would have liked to believe in God decided to think otherwise. The attention has been placed on a kind of God that is visible, and can be located and reached to ask some questions. People have always wanted a kind of God that they can pay visit anytime they desire and probably have some cups of tea with, thereafter lay their needs and frustration on Him. And perhaps, they have wanted a kind of God that they will reach out to and ask Him to teach them how He made this world, so that they will start creating their own world. It is unbelievable that someone made this magnificent world and He’s nowhere to be found, at least He shou…

Continued from the last episode
Case Study Text:
“And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.”
1 Cor 15:45 – 47 (KJV)
Talking about the curse, it is important to ascertain that in real terms, God didn’t curse the man. Remember, the consequence will only manifest if the action is taken inasmuch as the action is not taken, there is no way the consequence will manifest. Therefore, it is an authentic fact that the man brought the curse upon himself and not that God cursed him. What God did was to help him understand what has happened to him as a result of his action. For instance, if there is a ravaging disease surging up in the society and some medical team starts to create awareness and carrying out campaign on the disease and lett…

Daniel Osato Edegbe Uddo - Talking Christianity Correspondent, he wrote from Lagos Nigeria
Let us take a little time to consider the impact of the
church to the growth of the economy and its role in the reduction of
unemployment in the Nigeriansociety. Most people may never have anything good to write about the
modern Nigerian church because of the way it has presented itself overtime, but
still we have to consider some of its advantageous input to the growth of the
economy.

Continued from the last episode:
This implies that if someone dies, no matter the circumstances that surround his or her death, God has no hands in it. The only person God has killed is Himself in Christ, and in this He died a sacrificial death to save man from death. And of course this sacrificial death is the source of eternal life He has offered to man. In the light of this understanding, it is proper to say that if while people are carrying out some religious activities and eventually they die or fail, it’s not God that killed them and God didn’t fail them. One thing that should be made clear is that God is not religious and He didn’t create any religion and is not involved in any religion! I said all of that to say this, that Christianity is not a religion and should no longer be seen as one. The truth is that over the ages and civilizations, many out of ignorance and selfishness have infused religion into Christianity. Nevertheless, that they did it and it is relatively unoppos…

Most of us have heard about the prophecy that went viral by
a Pastor revealing dates that certain bad incidents will happen within and
outside Lagos, and some transportation companies that will be involved.Now do you think it was revealed so people
can avoid going out or traveling on these days or to pray against it and stop
it.. As so many of us have decided to totally avoid the road, it has caused an
arousal of fear and unrest in the city of Lagos...

Spiritual entities dissipate information or messages that reveal their core values to the public and they expect the public to know them by these messages they preach. So their messages invariably become their identity because they point to what they are and represents. Also, it is important to point out that it is their message that brings people and as many that they bring among them are established by the same message. However, it is important to note that Christianity as a spiritual entity has its own message and this message is called the message of salvation. This implies that the right Christian message should be that message that can save people from condemnation and it is rooted in the teaching of the early Apostles. To ascertain the right message therefore it is worthy to align any message preached by anyone with what was preached by the early Apostles and if such message doesn’t align properly it should be discarded.

Continued from the last episode,
Furthermore, consider what Apostle Paul says in this verse “Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God; Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Col 1:25-27). Also “That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel” (Eph 3:6).

It is easy for one to say there is nothing as a Christian relationship and conclude that relationship is relationship and cannot be sub-divided into any category. Here we have two main words to cogitate about and as a matter of fact give a definition to them. Giving a definition to them will further aid us in the understanding of the subject matter.